Tread for auto-tires.



W. H. WEDDINGTON.

TREAD FOR AUTO TIRES.. APPLICATION FILED Mmmm, 1912.

Patented Ja11.21, 1913.

Invenofr. l'a/mieddb UNTER@ S rs narrativi? ernten.

WILLIAM H. WEDDNGTON, F LANKERSHIM. CALIFORNIA.

TREAD FOR lAU'TO-TIRES.

Application filed Maren 26. 1912,

To all 'ur/wm it may conoci/1n Be it known that I, lViLLiAM H. Tico- Diivorox, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lankershim, in the co'unty of lios Angeles and State-of California, have invented new and useful Improvements iu Treads for Autoflii'es, of which the following is a specification'.

This' invention relates to impi'ovenients in vehicle tires and has particular relation to.

the production of tires with protected tread portions for protecting the same against wear and perforation.

It. isan object .of the invention to provide a tire for vehicles having metallic slice portions fastened thereto, but movabl y .mounted with respect to each other so as not to destroy the resiliency of the tiro.

It is also an object of the invention .to provide a tread portion for a resilient` tire in which removable shoe plates-are secured to the materials of the tire and reinforcing soles or weaiing'plates applied to said slices.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a tire having a tread portion of yielding material formed with recesses 'therein in given relation to each other and to provide metallic shoes, adapted to eX- tend into said recesses for gripping the material of the tire, the shoes also being pro-- vided with reinforcing surface portions or soles.

In the accompanying drawing forming a part of this speciication, Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of a tire tread, constructed in accordance with the present invention and having portions thereof supplied with protecting'means. Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view through .the tread surface taken upon the line 2--2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view taken upon the line 3;-3

of Fig. 1. F ig. 4c a detail perspective view of an intermediate protection plate em ployed upon the tread of the tire. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the shoe plates secured to the tire tread. Fig. 6 is a similar of one of the sole plates of Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 21, unisi seria-1 No. 686,301.

various kinds of tires, it is particularly adapted for use upon inflated tires and tii'es 'which employ rubber aud fabric casings andv which ordinarily are subject' to rapid wear in use and are liable to be punctured.

.\s illustrated in tlie'drawing the tire of `the present invention is preferably provided upon its tread surface with a series. of grooves oi' recesses 1.1 foi'med of, considerable depth, the intermediate projections 1Q being` provided with suitable protecting surfaces or armor. The said armor is preferably formed by providing metallic shoes 13 of a proper contour to tit upon the projections 1Q.

The projections 12 being" formed in the rubber or yielding material.

of the tire are 'aaptedto have the shoes 13 slipped upon the same and to have the side port-ions 14 thereof bent or crimped inwardly sufficiently to grip the walls of the recesses 11, the rubber yielding so that' the bases of the recesses 11are inclined inwardly and downwardly as clearly-shown in Figi. 2. The walls of said recesses 11 are preferably made vertical and parallel before the shoes 13 are applied as shown in Fig. 3.

.Although the projections y12 may be of any desired configurations and of `various forms within the spirit of the invention, I prefer to make them approximately triangular as disclosed in Fig. 1. i the slices 13 are correspondingly tri-angular in their body portions and the side gripping parts 14 are bent so as to readily slip upon the said projections. i

angle for'gripping the rubber of the projections 12, while the third wall is left'bent outwardly to a slight degree as shown in Fig. 5 and after the other two `,walls have In such event Two of such side walls 14. are generally bent. inwardly to the desired, A y

been slipped upon the triangular surface 12,;

the thiid wall is crimped inwardly by any suitable tool to firmly secure the said shoe in position upon the projection 12; The wall portions 14 are also provided withv flanges 15, which are turned outwardly and rest upon the bottoms of the recess 11 and the extreme edges of said flanges are preferably.

turned upwardly at 16, so that adjacent shoe flanges 15, will have a bearing upon each other, afforded by said turned up portions 16, to permit of their accommodating the shoes to the yielding action of the tire and .yet'preventing their edges from catching upon 'each other so that one may pull theother oft',

The walls 14 are made approXimately of the same length as the recess 11,.so that the shoes 13 practically cover the entire tread surface of the projections 12. The said shoes-13 may bemade of any desired metal `Ybe crimped or fastened upon the shoe 13.

The said soles 17 are therefore formed with gripping ianges 18, two of which are preferably bent inwardly before .application to the tread of the tire, while thethird is crimped after the sole has been placedpupon its particular shoe 13. The position 'of thesaid soles upon the shoes is clearly indicated in Figs. 1 and 2. The structure of the soles is such that they will receive all of the wear in thevuse of the tire and when they have become worn so as to be practically useless, they can be pulled off and replacd by crimping new soles in place. In thisI manner the wear of the tire and its tread portion,

will be indefinitely protected and in fact the tire or tire casing will be capable of wear and use as long as the rubber and fabric portion thereof does not crack out at the sides. l

To effectively cover and protect the inter-` mediate portions lying between the ends of the tire shoes, an intermediate-plate 19 is provided and adapted to fit into slight de' pressions 20 formed in the material of the tire tread. Said depressions are preferably only the depth of the thickness of said plates 19 as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. To hold the plates 19 in position upon the tire they are provided with projection-s 21, which are adapted to extend beneath the adjacent ends of the shoe 13. The plates 19 are thus in position to protect the intermediate portions of the tread from puncture but need not be made of great thickness since they do not.

receive the wear of the `tire due to its contact with the pavement or road, the said plates being below the level not only of the soles 17 but of the shoes 13. as clearly shown in Fig. 2. The said plates'19 may fiber and will thus be light and. not destruc-y tive to the rubber inthe event of their being slightly loose in their recesses.

In the employment of a tread of this char? acter it will be observed, that while the surface of the tread which is exposed. to wear be constructed of and to the likelihood of puncture may be thoroughly protected, yet because of the disconnected shoes employed, the resiliency of the tire is absolutely unaffected. It'will also be'observe'd that the portion of the protecting meanswhich receives the wear, namely the soles 17, may-be struck up in quantities and are comparatively inexpensive andmay be replaced from time to time so that the shoes'and other portions of the Atread and theA tire are prevented from wearing and are rendered long lived. In the event of a nailjor other device being struck by the tire and turned into one of the recesses 11, the flanges 15; will protect the same from being driven into and puncturing'thel tire.

,What I claim is:

1. A resilient tire, comprising 'a tread,

`having a 4series of intersecting grooves vformed 1n the reslllent material ofthe tire,

metallicshoes covering the peripheral surfaces segregated by said grooves, and flanges cn said shoes projecting into said grooves.

'adapted to compress and grip the material forming the sides of said grooves, so that the shoes are locked in position thereon.

2.' A resilient tire comprising a tread having a series of radiating grooves 'formed in the material of the tire, segregating projections on said tread, said formed with vertical walls, and shoes to cover said projections, provided with int'urned and inclined vflanges projecting into and engaging the vertical walls of said grooves, adapted to compress the inner portions of said walls and form a dovetail to lock the shoes in position on said tread.

3. Atire tread portion comprising a casing having recesses formed in the surface thereof adapted to leave angular projections between the same, shallow recesses arranged between said first mentioned recesses. metallic shoes shaped with bent wall .portions adapted to extend into said tir-st mentioned recesses and having outwardly turned edge portions adapted to coverthe surface in the bottom of said recesses, removable ysoles having edge flanges ad aptod to be crimped upon the said shoes', and intermediate' j'irotecting plates mounted in the shallower recesses. f

Inv witness that I (':laim'the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my .name thisI 13th day of ll/larch, 1912.

W. H. IVEDDINGION Witnesses: EDMUND A. S'r1 .\i'si:, Raum: R. PoLLARn. y

grooves being` 

